I HAVE ALWAYS taken a pride in keeping my horses fit and healthy all year round and I believe that this helps to make a difference in the show ring. My experience with point-to-pointers has given me an understanding of what a fit horse should look like and I was taught by my parents to recognise the importance of diet and exercise on soundness and performance.
Building up to fitness slowly and with a plan inmind for the show horse, though, is vital to avoid injury and to ensure that he enters the show ring — or any other ring in other disciplines, for that matter — in tip top shape.
I increase my horses’ workload and fitness regime in February, at which point I up their feeds if needs be in order to start to put on muscle tone.
I work them long and low, frequently on the lunge and using a Pessoa training aid which works them in a kind outline. They only walk and trot on the lunge.
I also hack out several days a week, always working my horse in a nice outline. I start off an unfit horse with 20 minutes of walk (I never trot them on the roads), working up to an hour's session over a six-week period.
When it comes to basic schooling,
